An estimated 170 million people throughout the world are infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV). More than 70% of these individuals remain chronically infected for life, of which 15-20% eventually develops liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The current therapy for HCV infections is the combination of ribavirin, interferon-α (IFN-α), and recently approved HCV inhibitors such as Victrelis (boceprevir) and Incivek (telaprevir). Unfortunately, in addition to severe side effects, the sustained response rate of this therapy is only 50-75% and genotype-dependent.
Accordingly, more selective and potent drugs are urgently needed to combat the widespread infections of HCV, especially in the face of and the limited efficacy and severe toxicity of current anti-HCV therapy. This need and other needs are addressed by the present invention.